Cooking Up Color: 5 Ways to Bring Blue Into the Kitchen

by admin

Many ingredients go into designing the perfect kitchen. One that’s often overlooked or not considered early enough in the design process is color. It’s perfectly fine to prefer a neutral kitchen, of course, but many homeowners default to everything in white, beige or gray simply because they feel overwhelmed at the number of decisions to make or the prospect of committing to anything bolder. In this first edition of a new series on kitchen color, we’ll explore the options for injecting interesting blue hues into your space.

1. Consider Cool Cabinets

Blue-hued cabinets are extremely popular right now, and for good reason. Blue is beloved partly because we associate it with the sea and sky. Cool colors are also considered soothing, so using them in the home can help create a tranquil vibe.

While a bold blue on all four walls of the kitchen might be too much for most homeowners, a splash of the hue on some or all of the cabinets is a less intense way to introduce color into an otherwise neutral space.

Whether your preferred blue is a saturated version, such as the one seen in the previous photo, or a softer color, as shown here, blue is a great choice in kitchens that have wood floors or countertops because it acts as a contrast to the warm orange tones of the wood, making them really stand out.

A beautiful blue backsplash will definitely be a focal point, so work with your designer or tile showroom to find an option that works with the other elements in your kitchen design, so they won’t be fighting for attention.

You can then either pull a blue from the backsplash and use it elsewhere in the kitchen, as was done in the previous example, or keep the other items neutral so the backsplash remains the star, as in the kitchen shown here.

Most folks paint their ceiling flat white and are done with it. The designers of these two kitchens instead opted to make the ceilings a feature in the room.

You can’t go wrong with a sky-blue if you decide to paint your ceiling; I recommend talking with your design or color consultant about medium to light shades that have a touch of gray in them, to keep them soft.

As a bonus, cool colors tend to recede visually, so a blue ceiling is going to appear taller than it actually is — helpful if your kitchen is height-deprived.

I guarantee your kitchen will be anything but boring and cookie-cutter if you install blue appliances! There’s a multitude of options, of course, both in style and color. Whether you prefer an elegant, old-world look or favor something more fun and retro, a good kitchen designer can steer you toward the style and color that works for you and your budget.

I typically advise design clients to stick to neutral hues for items that are difficult or expensive to change out, and I would include flooring in that category. But then I see a kitchen like this one and I remember that sometimes rules are made to be broken.

This vibrant blue floor tile is not only pretty, it’s also a smart choice for those living in a warm climate. Both the color and material will help you keep your cool while cooking on even the hottest of days.

OK, this flooring is technically multicolored, with blue the predominant hue. The complexity of the pattern also offers a side benefit. Though I sweep my kitchen floors regularly and mop them about once a week, in between the cleanings I’d rather not see every little speck of dirt. Prior to remodeling my home, I had solid black ceramic floor tiles in the kitchen (installed by a previous owner) and they looked dirty within minutes of being mopped. A patterned or multihued flooring material such as this will be more forgiving if you aren’t willing or able to clean it every day.

If clean-looking floors are a concern for you, ask your designer or flooring vendor to provide a sample of the material you’re considering so you can test it for durability and how easy it is to keep clean.